Under normal circumstances, I would be overjoyed that Amazon has rediscovered the appeal of dedicated page-turn buttons on its Kindle e-readers. Neither of my current models—a first-generation Scribe and a Colorsoft—have those buttons, and I miss them every time I pick up each device.
What’s the big deal, you might ask? Don’t you use touchscreens every day? Well, yes, but that’s kind of the point.
A big reason I like e-readers is they help me get into a different headspace. Moving my thumb over to touch a screen every couple of hundred words makes me feel like I’m operating a gadget rather than reading a book; gently pressing my thumb in place is a more natural motion that doesn’t take me out of the content on the page.
Amazon does seem to have some idea that people value the feature: The current splash page for the new Kindle line proclaims “Buttons are back.” The one catch? They’re only back if you buy an $80 accessory “Page-Turn Cover” for the more expensive “Signature Edition” model of the Colorsoft or Paperwhite.
To be fair, it does look like quite a nice cover. It attaches magnetically and connects through pogo pins, which is why it requires the Signature Edition of each device. It folds back flat, matching the new flatter metal design of the e-readers themselves. The page-turn buttons look to be fairly substantial, and you can set each one to turn the page forward or backward.
Still, I am wondering why these buttons can’t simply be part of the Kindle itself.
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